# Xinjiang Province, Republic of China

Xinjiang Province (Chinese: 新疆省; pinyin: Xīnjiāng Shěng) or Sinkiang Province was a nominal province of the Republic of China without administrative function. First set up as a province in 1884 by the Qing dynasty, it was replaced in 1955 by the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The original provincial government was relocated to Taipei as the Sinkiang Provincial Government Office (新疆省政府辦事處) until its dissolution in 1992.

## Administration

The province inherited the borders of the Qing dynasty province, bordering Kansu, Tsinghai, the Mongol Area, Tibet Area and the countries Soviet Union, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. The claimed boundaries of the province included all of today's Xinjiang and parts of Mongolia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

## History

In 1912, the Qing dynasty was replaced by the Republic of China. Yuan Dahua, the last Qing governor of Xinjiang, fled. One of his subordinates, Yang Zengxin, took control of the province and acceded in name to the Republic of China in March of the same year. Through Machiavellian politics and clever balancing of mixed ethnic constituencies, Yang maintained control over Xinjiang until his assassination in 1928 after the Northern Expedition of the Kuomintang.
The Kumul Rebellion and other rebellions arose against his successor Jin Shuren in the early 1930s throughout Xinjiang, involving Uyghurs, other Turkic groups, and Hui (Muslim) Chinese. Jin drafted White Russians to crush the revolt. In the Kashgar region on November 12, 1933, the short-lived self-proclaimed First East Turkistan Republic was declared. The Hui Kuomintang 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army) destroyed the army of the First East Turkestan Republic at the Battle of Kashgar (1934), bringing the Republic to an end. The Soviet Union invaded the province in the Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang. In the Xinjiang War (1937), the entire province was brought under the control of northeast Manchu warlord Sheng Shicai, who ruled Xinjiang for the next decade with close support from the Soviet Union. In 1944, the President and Premier of China, Chiang Kai-shek, informed by the Soviets of Sheng's intention to join the Soviet Union, decided to shift him out of Xinjiang to Chongqing as the Minister of Agriculture and Forest. More than a decade of Sheng's era had ended. However, a short-lived Soviet-backed Second East Turkestan Republic was established in that year, which lasted until 1949 in what is now Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (Ili, Tarbagatay and Altay Districts) in northern Xinjiang.
During the Ili Rebellion the Soviet Union backed Uyghur separatists to form the East Turkestan Republic (ETR) in Ili region while the majority of Xinjiang was under the control of the Republic of China. In 1946, the ROC government and the ETR agreed to establish the Coalition Government of Xinjiang Province, although it collapsed shortly after in 1947. The People's Liberation Army entered Xinjiang in 1949 and the Kuomintang commander Tao Zhiyue surrendered the province to them. The original provincial government was relocated to Taipei as the Sinkiang Provincial Government Office (新疆省政府辦事處) to symbolize the ROC's claim of sovereignty over the province; it was eventually dissolved in 1992.

## Demographics

| Ethnic group | Estimated population 1933 |
| Han Chinese | 202,239 (5.41%) |
| Uyghurs | 2,900,173 (77.75%) |
| Kazakhs | 318,716 (8.55%) |
| Hui | 92,146 (2.47%) |
| Kyrgyz | 65,248 (1.75%) |
| Mongols | 63,018 (1.69%) |
| Taranchis | 41,307 (1.11%) |
| Russians | 13,408 (0.36%) |
| Sibes | 9,203 (0.25%) |
| Tajiks | 8,867 (0.24%) |
| Uzbeks | 7,966 (0.21%) |
| Tatars | 4,601 (0.12%) |
| Solons | 2,489 (0.07%) |
| Manchus | 670 (0.02%) |
| Total | 3,730,051 |

## List of governors

Non-partisan/ unknown  Warlords  People's Anti-Imperialist Association  Kuomintang (Nationalist)

### Chairperson of the Provincial Government (Mainland era)

| No. | Name (Birth–death) | Term of office | Term of office | Political Party |
| 1 | Yang Zengxin 楊增新 Yáng Zēngxīn (1864–1928) | 1912 | July 7, 1928 | Xinjiang clique |
| Assassinated. ||||
| 2 | Jin Shuren 金樹仁 Jīn Shùrén (1879–1941) | July 7, 1928 | April 12, 1933 | Xinjiang clique |
| Deposed in a coup. ||||
| 3 | Liu Wenlong 劉文龍 Liú Wénlóng (1870–1950) | April 14, 1933 | September 1933 | |
| Removed from office and placed under house arrest by Sheng Shicai. ||||
| – | Zhu Ruichi 朱瑞墀 Zhū Ruìchí (1862–1934) | September 1933 | March 5, 1934 | |
| Figurehead chairman appointed by Sheng Shicai and not recognized by the Central government. Died in office. ||||
| 4 | Li Rong 李溶 Lǐ Róng (1870–1940) | October 1934 | March 21, 1940 | |
| Figurehead chairman. Died in office. ||||
| 5 | Sheng Shicai 盛世才 Shèng Shìcái (1895–1970) | April 4, 1940 | August 29, 1944 | People's Anti-Imperialist Association |
| | Sheng Shicai 盛世才 Shèng Shìcái (1895–1970) | April 4, 1940 | August 29, 1944 | Kuomintang |
| Recognized by the Central government only as a duban (military governor), Sheng was de facto ruler of Sinkiang from 1933. In 1940, the Central government recognized him as Provincial chairman. Removed from office. ||||
| 6 | Wu Zhongxin 吳忠信 Wú Zhōngxìn (1884–1959) | August 29, 1944 | March 29, 1946 | Kuomintang |
| Resigned. ||||
| 7 | Zhang Zhizhong 張治中 Zhāng Zhìzhōng (1895–1969) | March 1946 | June 1947 | Kuomintang |
| Removed from office. ||||
| 8 | Masud Sabri 麥斯武德 مەسئۇت سابرى (1887–1952) | June 1947 | January 1949 | Kuomintang |
| First Uighur governor and first non-Han Governor in China during the twentieth century. Appointed during the Ili Rebellion. ||||
| 9 | Burhan Shahidi 包爾漢 بۇرھان شەھىدى (1894–1989) | January 1949 | September 26, 1949 | Kuomintang |
| Surrendered to the People's Liberation Army. ||||

### Xinjiang Provincial Government Office era
#### Chairperson of the Provincial Government

| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–death) | Term of office | Term of office | Political party |
| 1 | | Yulbars Khan 堯樂博士 يۇلبارس خان (1888–1971) | April 11, 1950 | July 27, 1971 | Kuomintang |
| Died in office. ||||

#### Director, Xinjiang Provincial Government Office

| No. | Name (Birth–death) | Term of office | Term of office | Political party |
| 1 | Yao Tao-hung 堯道宏 Yáo Dàohóng (1913–1991) | July 27, 1971 | ? | Kuomintang |
| Son of Yulbars Khan. ||||
| 2 | Hou Chi-yu 侯紀峪 Hóu Jìyù | ? | January 16, 1992 | Kuomintang |
| Post abolished. ||||